The Problem of Areal Studies of Folk Beliefs: Polish Zmora on the Background of Other Slavic Traditions

Currently, the problem of identifying and comparing mythological characters from different folklore traditions remains relevant. Revealing common elements of mythological characters is necessary for compiling folklore indexes and mapping specific motives and plots associated with them. In this article, this problem will be examined using the example of the Polish zmora and other similar Slavic mythological characters. It attempts to compare the zmora from Polish folklore with mythological characters of this type from other Slavic traditions, relying on the similarities and differences of the motives, as well as functions and differential features associated with them. The article shows the features which are common for the Polish zmora and similar characters in Czech, Slovak, Moravian and Lusatian folk culture, Bulgarian, Croatian and Serbian traditions, as well as in Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian folk culture. The author concludes that the West Slavic mora and the South Slavic mora are quite close to the Polish zmora in terms of the image and the plot-motive fund, and on this basis, the Western and South Slavs represent one ethnocultural area. Meanwhile, the Eastern Slavs do not have a corresponding character, so the motives and functions associated with such mythological characters among the Western and South Slavs are absent on the East Slavic territory or are passed to other characters.